


Caught

by Frangipanidownunder



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-08 04:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20308870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frangipanidownunder/pseuds/Frangipanidownunder
Summary: Maybe if you have some time, you could write a little something Mulder and Scully getting caught holding hands by Skinner when they’re not out about their relationship?





	Caught

As a fourteen-year-old, he got caught kissing Yvette Ducoin on the verandah of her house. Her dad opened the door and yanked on Mulder’s shoulders so that he stumbled backwards and landed on his ass, tipping over a pot that held a topiary boxwood, scattering rich earth over the silvered deck. Yvette squealed, called her dad a monster, and burst into tears. Mulder ran home and watched The Twilight Zone until his heartbeat stopped galloping. His own father grounded him for causing embarrassment to the family name.

When he was at school in Oxford, he got caught shoplifting. Phoebe wanted the ankle bracelet with bright crimson love-hearts dangling at each compass point, but claimed she was broke. The woman in the store showed him no mercy as she called the police and had him taken away in the Panda car. Phoebe sent a cab to the station and greeted him at his bedsit wearing nothing but the ankle bracelet and a long leather trench coat. I thought you’d like it, so I asked Philip Askew for the money. He’s always up for it, Fox.

In the VCU, Jerry Lamana caught him curled in the foetal position, spilling his tears over crime scene photos of a young girl with long dark braids, tortured and strangled. He promised Mulder he wouldn’t tell Bill Patterson. But Patterson put Mulder on all the cases involving young girls for the next six months.

These moments are burned into his brain. There have been plenty more over the years. Fox Mulder collects humiliations like others collect salt and pepper shakers. An eidetic memory affords him the misery of recalling not just the words, but the feelings, the deep shame too.

But when Skinner walks into the office unannounced and finds them, fingers slotted together, elbows bent so their joint fists are shoulder-height, Mulder just about dissolves on the spot. He’s not worried for his reputation, but for Scully’s.

“Agents,” Skinner says, clearing his throat and finding an interesting spot on the floor. “I came down to see how you were coming along with the report for your last case. The Max Harden case. But I can see that you’re busy. I’ll come back.”

He shuts the door and Mulder feels a hot flush spread up his neck. “I’m sorry, Scully,” he murmurs into their hands.

She blinks slowly. Shakes her head. He unlocks his fingers but she won’t let go. With her other hand she closes each digit back down over hers, kissing every knuckle as she does. She picks up his other hand and slots her fingers between his, bends their elbows and brings both hands between them. Over their clasped fists, she tiptoes to kiss him.

“Scully,” he whispers.

“S’okay, Mulder. I think he suspected anyway.”

“How’s that?”

“He’s not stupid,” she says, peppering kisses along his jaw.

“No, but he’s our boss,” he replies, trying to claim back his hands. She tugs at them and steps even closer, so that he can feel her heartbeat reverberating up his arms.

“And he’s our friend. He’s on our side, Mulder.”

He thinks about Yvette’s father, his own father, Phoebe, Bill Patterson. All the people who were never really on his side. He looks at Scully, really looks at her – eyes wide and expectant, lips glistening in the strange light of their office, chin tilted up, defiant. Their hands are as entwined as their hearts and he knows there’s no use in untangling either of them. He kisses her this time, slowly, drawing their fists higher so that their knuckles dig into their chests.

He sees Skinner in his periphery but he can’t break the kiss and Skinner ducks his head, a nod of understanding, and leaves in silence, taking their secret with him.


End file.
